The Latter-day Kingdom—The Present Fulfilment of Ancient Prophecy

Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, April 7, 1872.

Reported by David W. Evans.

When I look over this vast congregation, assembled in the body of this
house as well as in the gallery, it seems to be an impossibility to
make all hear; and to give all an opportunity to do so it will be
necessary that the closest attention be given and that shuffling of
feet and whispering cease. I suppose there must be congregated here
something in the neighborhood of twelve thousand persons, and there
are but very few voices or lungs that are able to reach such a
multitude, and edify and instruct them. I know from former experience
in speaking from this stand, that it requires a great exertion of the
lungs and body to speak so as to be understood, and this great
exertion of the physical system is calculated in a very short time to
weary also the mind, therefore I may not be able to address you for
any great length of time.

It is now forty-two years since the organization of the Church of
Jesus Christ on the earth. Forty-two years ago, on the 6th day of
April, the Prophet Joseph Smith was commanded by the Lord Almighty to
organize the Kingdom of God on the earth for the last time—to set up
and make a beginning—to form the nucleus of a Government that never
should be destroyed from the earth, or, in other words, that should
stand forever. The founding of governments, of whatsoever nature they
may be, may be considered in the estimation of some, very honorable;
but there is no special honor attached to a man who is called upon by
the Almighty to found a Government on the earth, for it is the Lord
who works by him as an instrument, using him for that purpose. That,
of course, is honorable. Perhaps there never was a work accomplished
among men of so great and important a nature as that of the foundation
of a kingdom that never is to be destroyed. About six thousand years
have passed away since the Government established by the Patriarchs,
or by the first man, was commenced here on the earth. From that time
until the present vast numbers and descriptions of Governments, some
Patriarchal in their nature, others taking the form of kingdoms,
others of empires and so forth, have been organized here on the earth.
During that long interval of time whenever a man has founded a
Government he has been greatly honored, not only by the generation
among whom he lived, and in which he formed the Government, but he has
been honored generally by after generations. But nearly all the
Governments that have
been established have been thrown
down—they have been only temporary in their nature—existing for a few
centuries perhaps, and then overthrown. It is not my intention this
afternoon to examine the nature and forms of these various human
Governments, but to state in a few words that there is now organized
on the earth a Government which never will be broken as former
Governments have been. This will stand forever. It began very
small—only six members were organized in this Government on Tuesday
the 6th day of April, 1830, that is according to the vulgar era;
according to the true era it was some two or three years longer. The
Christian era, that is in common use now among the human family is
called the vulgar era, because it is incorrect. Jesus, it is
acknowledged by the most learned men at the present day, was born two
or three years before the period that is now commonly called the
vulgar Christian era. It is also acknowledged by the greater portion
of the learned men of the day, who have carefully examined the
subject, that Jesus was crucified on the 6th day of April; and
according to the true Christian era it was precisely eighteen hundred
years from the day of his crucifixion until the day that this Church
was organized. Why the Lord chose this particular period—the
anniversary of the day of his crucifixion for the organization of his
kingdom on the earth I do not know. I do know that he has a set time
in his own mind for accomplishing his great purposes; but why he
should purpose in his own mind that precisely eighteen hundred years
should elapse from the day of the crucifixion until the day of the
organization of his church, we do not know. Suffice it to say that
this is the interval that elapsed. The Book of Mormon gives the exact
interval from the day of his birth to the day of the crucifixion, and
by putting these two periods together we can ascertain the true
Christian era. There is a great dispute, however, among chronologists
in regard to this matter; many of them say Jesus was born one year
before the vulgar era, others that he was born two years before that.
Four different chronologists, mentioned by name in Smith's Bible
Dictionary, place the period three years before the vulgar era; others
place it at four years before, some five, and some have placed it
seven years before the present vulgar era. If we take a medium between
these combined with the testimony of a great many who have written
upon the subject, we find, as I said before, that it makes precisely
eighteen hundred years between the two great events that took place,
namely the crucifixion and the building up of his kingdom in these
latter days.

God has seen proper in the progress of this kingdom to restore to his
servants holding the priesthood every key and power pertaining to the
restitution of all things spoken of by the mouth of all the Holy
Prophets since the world began. One of the first things that he
condescended to restore was the fullness of the everlasting Gospel,
just according to the prediction of the ancient Prophets—by the coming
of an angel from heaven. Mr. Smith fulfilled that prediction, or
rather it was fulfilled to him. He declares, in language most plain
and positive, that God did send an angel from heaven and committed to
him the everlasting Gospel on plates of gold; or in other words, he
had it revealed to him by this angel, where the plates of gold were
deposited containing the everlasting Gospel, as it was preached to the
ancient inhabitants of this
American continent, by the personal
ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This was the restoration
predicted by John in the 14th chapter of Revelation, where it is
declared that such an event should take place. John says that he saw,
in vision, an angel come from heaven to earth, to restore the
everlasting Gospel. No people on earth, prior to the advent of the
Prophet Joseph Smith, ever testified to the fulfilment of John's
prediction. If you make the inquiry of the various Christian
denominations, whether Catholic, Greek or Dissenters, they will tell
you unitedly that no such event characterized the rise of their
churches; we have therefore their testimony, proving that God never
fulfilled this portion of his word through them; but on the contrary
the united voice and testimony of all these Christians, from one end
of the earth to the other is that the Bible contains the Gospel, “And
we have preached the Gospel,” say they, “as we found it recorded in
the Bible,” and no angel to restore the authority to preach the
Gospel, to baptize, to confirm by the laying on of hands, to
administer the Lord's Supper, or to restore or give authority to
organize the kingdom of God on the earth, was necessary.” To this we
reply, the history of the Gospel is one thing, and the authority to
preach it and administer its ordinances is another. We can read its
history in the New Testament; and we can also read there how the
ancient servants of God organized the Church in their day; we can read
what ordinances they performed or administered among the children of
men; we can read what was needful for the organization of the
Christian Church eighteen hundred years ago. We have the history of
all these things in the Scriptures, but for some seventeen centuries
past prior to the coming of this angel, there has been no authority to
preach it; no Apostles, no Prophets, no Revelators, no visions from
heaven, no inspiration from heaven; no voice of the Lord has been
heard among the nations during the long interval that has elapsed
since the putting to death of the ancient servants of God, and the
destruction of the ancient Christian Church. Joseph Smith came to this
generation testifying to the fulfillment of that which God predicted
in the Revelation of Saint John—the restoration of the Gospel. But
says John the Revelator, “when it is restored it shall be preached to
every nation, kindred, tongue and people.”

Is there any prospect of this Gospel being thus extensively preached
among the inhabitants of the earth in this generation? We need not
refer you to the missions that have been taken by the Elders of this
Church. Their works speak for themselves. Behold this vast
congregation of people assembled here, and nearly all who inhabit this
Territory. Why are they here? Because the angel has brought the
everlasting Gospel, and because the servants of God have been
commissioned and sent forth with the sound of the Gospel among the
various nations and kingdoms of the earth; and because they have
succeeded in preaching it among vast numbers of people, and gathering
them out from the midst of the nations. But it has not yet gone to all
nations, kindreds, tongues and people; but wait a little longer, it
will shortly go, for just as sure as it has already been preached to
nearly all the nations of Christendom, so will it go to every other
people—heathen, Mahomedan, and every class, whether in Europe, Asia,
Africa, or the uttermost parts of
South America, the frozen
regions in the north, or the numerous islands in the great western and
eastern oceans. Every people must be warned that the great day of the
Lord is close at hand; every people must know that the Lord God has
spoken in these latter times; every people must know something
concerning the purposes of the Great Jehovah in fulfilling and
accomplishing the great preparatory work for the second advent of the
Son of God from the heavens. Here then is the fufilment of one
prophecy. Let us now come to another.

John, who saw this angel restore the everlasting Gospel to be preached
to all the nations, declares that another proclamation was closely
connected with the preaching of the Gospel. What was it? “The hour of
his judgment has come”—the eleventh hour, the last time that God will
warn the nations of the earth. “The hour of God's judgment has come,”
and that is the reason why the Gospel is to be so extensively preached
among all people, nations and tongues, because the Lord intends
through this warning to prepare them, if they will, to escape the hour
of his judgment, which must come upon all people who will refuse to
receive the divine message of the everlasting Gospel.

We will now pass on to another prophecy. Another angel followed. What
was his proclamation? Another angel followed, and he cried with a loud
voice, saying: “Babylon is fallen, is fallen. She has made all nations
drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,” &c. Spiritual
Babylon the Great, “the mother of harlots and abominations of the
earth.” “Mystery Babylon”—that great power that has held sway over the
nations of the earth—that great ecclesiastical power which has ruled
over the consciences of the children of men, she is to fall and is to
be destroyed from the face of the earth. Will the righteous fall with
her? No. Why not? Because there is a way for their escape.

Now mark another prophecy. “I heard a great voice,” says John, “from
heaven, saying, ‘Come out of her, O my people!’” Out of where?
“Mystery Babylon, the Great”—out of this great confusion that exists
throughout all the nations and multitudes of Christendom. “Come out
of her, O my people, that ye partake not of her sins, that ye receive
not of her plagues; for her sins have reached to the heavens, and God
hath remembered her iniquities!” Is this being fulfilled? Do you see
any indications of the people of God coming out from “Mystery Babylon
the Great?” Yes, for forty-two years, and upwards, God has commanded
his people, not by something devised by a congregation of divines, or
by human ingenuity, but by a voice from heaven which has been
published and printed, requiring all who receive the everlasting
Gospel to come out from the midst of great Babylon. One hundred
thousand Latter-day Saints, approximately speaking, now inherit these
mountain regions. They are here because of this prediction of John,
because of its being fulfilled, because of the voice that has come
from heaven—the proclamation of the Almighty for his people to flee
from amongst the nations of the earth. I need not say any more in
regard to this prophecy; it is in the Bible, and is being fulfilled
before the eyes of all people.

Let me refer now to another prophecy. Daniel the Prophet has told us
that in the latter days after the great image that was seen in dream
by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, representing the various
kingdoms of the world, should be destroyed, and those nations
should pass away and become like the chaff of the summer threshingfloor,
the Lord would establish an everlasting Government here upon
the earth. The Lord God saw proper to reveal to his servant Daniel the
nature of this Government. He represented it as having a very small
beginning—as a stone cut out of the mountain without hands, which
stone should fall upon the feet of the image, and they should be
broken in pieces. After the destruction of the feet all the image
should fall—the legs of iron, the belly and thighs of brass, the
breast and arms of silver, the head of gold—representing the remnants
of all those ancient nations—the Babylonians, Medes and Persians, and
the Greeks; also the remnants of those that once constituted the great
Roman empire—those now in Europe and those of European origin which
have come across the great ocean and established themselves here on
the vast continent of the west, all, all were to be destroyed by the
force of this little kingdom to be established by the power of truth,
and by the authority that should characterize the nature of the stone
cut out of the mountains. “In the days of these kings,” says the
Prophet, “shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom that shall never be
destroyed, neither shall it be left to any other people, but it shall
stand forever,” etc. The Prophet Daniel uttered the prophecy; Joseph
Smith, by authority of the Almighty, fulfilled it, so far as the
organization or setting up of the kingdom was concerned.

Let me refer now to some other prophecies. I do not want to dwell long
upon any of them. We are told in the prophecies of Isaiah that before
the time of the second advent, when the glory of the Lord should be
revealed and all flesh should see it together, there should be a Zion
built up on the earth. The Prophet gives the following exhortation to
that Zion—“O Zion, thou that bringest good tidings, get thee up into
the high mountain.” Here then is a prophecy that, in the latter days,
God would have a Zion on the earth before he should reveal himself
from heaven and manifest his glory to all people; and the people
called Zion are exhorted, in the 40th chapter of Isaiah, to get up
into the high mountain. Here we are in this great mountain region, in
a Territory called the mountain Territory. Here we are on the great
backbone, as it were, of the western hemisphere, located among the
valleys of this great ridge of mountains, which extends for thousands
of miles—from the frozen regions in the north, almost to the southern
extremity of South America. Here are the people called Zion, gone up
into the high mountain, according to the prediction of the Prophet
Isaiah. Isaiah uttered the prophecy; Joseph Smith also prophesied the
same thing, but died without seeing it fulfilled. His successor,
Brigham Young, lived to be the favored instrument in the hands of God,
of taking the people from those countries down in the States, those
countries upon the low elevations of our globe, and bringing them up
here into this vast mountain region. Thus the prophecy was uttered—thus
it has been fulfilled.

We will pass on to some other prophecies. In the eighteenth chapter of
the prophecies of Isaiah we have a prediction about a time when the
Lord should make a great destruction upon a certain portion of the
earth. The Prophet begins the chapter by saying, “woe to the land
shadowing with wings, which is be-yond the rivers of Ethiopia.
Recollect where the Prophet dwelt when he uttered this prophecy—in
Palestine, east of the Mediterranean Sea. Where was Ethiopia?
Southwest from Palestine. Where was there a land located beyond the
rivers of Ethiopia. Every person acquainted with the geography of our
globe knows that this American continent was beyond the rivers of
Ethiopia from the land of Palestine, where the prophecy was uttered. A
woe was pronounced upon that land, and that woe is this: “For afore
the harvest, when the bud is perfect and the sour grape is ripening in
the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruninghooks, and
take away and cut down the branches. They shall be left together unto
the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth. And the
fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall
winter upon them.” But first, before this destruction, there is a
remarkable prophecy. Says the Prophet: “All ye inhabitants of the
world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye when he lifteth up an ensign
on the mountains, and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.” From this
we learn that, before this great destruction, there is to be an ensign
lifted up on the mountains, and this, too, beyond the rivers of
Ethiopia, from Palestine. This is the reason why Zion in the latter
days goes up into the mountains, in order that an ensign might be
lifted up on the mountains. This prophecy was uttered some twenty-five
hundred years ago, and has been fulfilled before the eyes of the
people in our day.

But more in regard to this ensign; we find that it was not an ensign
to be lifted up in Palestine, for in the fifth chapter of his
prophecies, Isaiah, speaking of it says—“The Lord shall lift up an
ensign for the nations from afar.” What does this mean? It means a
land far distant from where the Prophet Isaiah lived—the land of
Palestine. Now there is no land of magnitude or greatness that is far
off from Palestine that would answer the description of this prophecy
any better than this great western hemisphere; it is located almost on
the opposite side of the globe from Palestine. The Lord, then, was to
lift the ensign on a land that was far off from where the Prophet
lived; and that ensign, we are told, should be set up on the
mountains, and that, too, on a land shadowing with wings. When looking
on the map of North and South America it has oftentimes suggested to
my own mind the two wings of a great bird. No doubt the Prophet Isaiah
saw this great western continent in vision, and recognized the
resemblance to the wings of a bird in the general outline of the two
branches of the continent. On such a land, on the mountains afar off
from Palestine, an ensign was to be raised. But remember another thing
in connection with this ensign—See how extensive the proclamation was
to be—“All ye inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth, see
ye when he lifts up an ensign on the mountains.” It was to be a work
that was to attract the attention of all people, unto the ends of the
world.

“But,” enquires one, “what do you call an ensign?” Webster gives the
definition of an ensign or standard—“Something to which the people
gather; a notice for the people to assemble.” In other words it is the
great standard of the Almighty—the great ensign that he is lifting up
in the shape of his Church and kingdom, on the mountains in the latter
days, with all the order and form of his ancient system of church
government, with its inspired Apos-tles and Prophets and with
all the gifts, powers and blessings characterizing the Christian
Church in ancient days. That is an ensign that should attract the
people unto the very ends of the world.

With the establishment of this ensign God has not only restored the
Gospel, but the keys of gathering the people together and building up
Zion, and he has also restored other keys and blessings that were to
characterize the great and last dispensation of the fullness of times.
What are they? The same as predicted in the last chapter of the
prophecy of Malachi. That Prophet, speaking of the great day of
burning says, “Behold the day shall come that shall burn as an oven,
and all the proud and they that do wickedly shall become as stubble,
and the day that cometh shall burn them up saith the Lord of Hosts,
that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” This is something
that has never been fulfilled yet. But mark! Before the Lord burns all
the proud and those who do wickedly, he has told us be would send
Elijah the Prophet. He says, “Behold, I will send unto you Elijah the
Prophet, he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and
the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the
earth with a curse.” Recollect, this is to be just before the day of
burning, before the great and notable day of the Lord should come.

Elijah, the Prophet, then, must come from heaven—that same man who was
translated in a chariot of fire, and who had such power while on the
earth that he could fight, as it were, all the enemies of Israel that
came against him; he could call down fire from heaven and consume the
fifties as they came by companies to take him. That same man was to be
sent in the last days, before the great and notable day of the Lord.
What for? To restore a very important principle—a principle which will
turn the hearts of the children to the fathers, and the hearts of the
fathers to the children. Has that Prophet been sent to the earth,
according to the prediction? Yes. When did he come, and to whom did he
come? He came to that despised young man, Joseph Smith. According to
the testimony of Joseph Smith, the Prophet Elijah stood before him, in
the presence of Oliver Cowdery, and gave them these keys. What is
included in this turning of the hearts of the children to the fathers
and the hearts of the fathers to the children? There is included in it
a principle for the salvation of the fathers that are dead, as well as
for the children who are living. You have heard, Latter-day Saints,
for years and years, that God has given keys, by which the living in
this Church might do, not only the works necessary for their own
salvation, but also certain works necessary to the salvation of their
ancestors as far back as they could obtain their genealogies. What can
be done by us for our fathers who have lived and died during the last
seventeen hundred years, without hearing the Gospel in its fullness
and power? Hundreds and thousands, and millions of them were sincere
and honest, and served the Lord the best they knew; but they lived in
the midst of apostate Christendom, and never heard the Gospel preached
by inspired men, neither had they the chance of having its ordinances
administered to them by men having authority from God. Must they be
shut out from the kingdom of God, and be deprived of the glory, joys
and blessings of celestial life because
of this? No, God is an
impartial being, and when he sent Elijah the Prophet to confer the
keys I have referred to upon Joseph Smith, he intended that this
people should work for the generations of the dead, as well as for the
generations of the living; that these ordinances which pertain to men
here in the flesh might be administered in their behalf by those of
their kindred living in this day and generation. In this way the
Latter-day Saints will be baptized and receive the various ordinances
of the Gospel of the Son of God for their forefathers, as far as they
can trace them; and when we have traced them as far back as we can
possibly go, the Lord God has promised that he will reveal our
ancestry back until it shall connect with the ancient priesthood, so
that there will be no link wanting in the great chain of redemption.

Here then was a restoration in fulfillment of the prediction of
Malachi, and for this reason Temples are being built. The Temple, of
which the foundation is laid on this block, is intended for that
purpose among others. It is not intended for the assembling of vast
congregations of the Saints, but it is intended to be for the
administration of sacred and holy ordinances. There will be a font for
baptism, in its proper place, built according to the pattern that God
shall give unto his servants. It is intended that, in these sacred and
holy places, appointed, set apart and dedicated by the command of the
Almighty, genealogies shall be revealed, and that the living shall
officiate for the dead, that those who have not had the opportunity
while in the flesh in past generations to obey the Gospel, might have
their friends now living, officiate for them. This does not destroy
their agency, for although they laid down their bodies and went to
their graves in a day of darkness, and they are now mingled with the
hosts of spirits in the eternal worlds, their agency still continues,
and that agency gives them power to believe in Jesus Christ there,
just as well as we can who are here. Those spirits on the other side
of the veil can repent just the same as we, in the flesh, can repent.
Faith in God and in his son Jesus Christ, and repentance are acts of
the mind—mental operations—but when it comes to baptism for the
remission of sins they cannot perform that, we act for them, that
having been ordained to be performed in the flesh. They can receive
the benefit of whatever is done for them here, and whatever the Lord
God commands his people here in the flesh to do for them will be
published to them there by those holding the everlasting Priesthood of
the Son of God. If, when the Gospel is preached to them there, they
will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, they will receive the benefits
of the ordinances performed on their behalf here, and they will be
partakers, with their kindred, of all the blessings of the fullness of
the Gospel of the Son of God; but if they will not do this they will
be bound over in chains of darkness until the judgment of the great
day, when they will be judged according to men in the flesh. We are
here in the flesh, and the same Gospel that condemns the disobedient
and the sinner here, will, by the same law, condemn those who are on
the other side of the veil.

We have an account of baptism for the dead, as it was administered
among the ancient Saints. Paul refers to it in his epistle to the
Corinthians, to prove to them that the resurrection was a reality,
“Else,” says he, “what shall they do who are baptized for the dead, if
the
dead rise not at all? why then are they baptized for the
dead?” It was a strong argument that Paul brought forward, and one
that the Corinthians well understood. It was a practice among them to
be baptized for their dead, and Paul, knowing that they understood
this principle, uses an argument to show that the dead would have a
resurrection, and that baptism or immersion in water, a being buried
in and the coming forth out of the water, was a simile of the
resurrection from the dead. The same doctrine is taught in one of
Peter's epistles. About preaching to those who are dead, Peter says
that “Jesus was put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the
Spirit, by which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison,
which sometimes were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God
waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing.” Indeed! Jesus
himself go to the dead and preach to them? Yes. Go to the old
antediluvian spirits, and preach to them? Yes, preach to spirits who
had lain in prison over two thousand years, shut up and deprived of
entering into the fulness of the kingdom of God because of their
disobedience. Jesus went and preached to them. “What did he preach?”
He did not preach eternal damnation, for that would have been no use.
He did not go and say to them, “You antediluvian spirits, I have come
here to torment you.” He did not declare that “I have opened your
prison doors to tell you there is no hope for you, your case is past
recovery, you must be damned to everlasting despair.” This was not his
preaching. He went there to declare glad tidings. When he entered the
prison of those antediluvians, Peter says he preached the Gospel.
“For for this cause was the Gospel preached to them that are dead,
that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, and live
according to God in the spirit.” Yes, the inhabitants of the spirit
world—far more numerous than those in the flesh—must hear the glad
tidings of the Gospel of the Son of God, that all may be judged by the
same Gospel and the same law; and if they will receive it be blessed,
exalted from their prison house, and brought into the presence of the
Father and the Son, and inherit celestial glory.

This, therefore, is among the greatest of all the keys that God has
revealed in the last dispensation—the saving of the generations of the
dead, as well as the generations of the living, inasmuch as they will
repent. Shall we stop here? Perhaps I have spoken sufficiently long.
There are other principles, just as important in their nature, that
must be restored in the latter days, but I have not time to dwell upon
them. I have reference now to the restoration of that eternal
principle—the marriage covenant, which once was on the earth in the
days of our first parents, the eternal union of husband and wife,
according to the law of God, in the first pattern of marriage that is
given to the children of men. That must also be restored, and
everything in its time and in its season must be restored, in order
that all things spoken of by the mouth of all the holy Prophets since
the world began may be fulfilled. But we will leave this subject for
some future time. There must, however, be a restoration of the eternal
covenant of marriage, and also of that order of marriage which existed
among the old Patriarchs, before the prophecies can be fulfilled,
wherein seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, “we will eat
our own bread, and wear our own apparel, only let us be called by thy
name to take away our
reproach.” That must be restored, or the
prophecies of Isaiah never can be fulfilled. A great many other things
might be named which must be restored in the dispensation of the
fulness of times. It is a dispensation to restore all things, it is
the dispensation of the spirit and power of Elias or Elijah, “to seal
all things unto the end of all things” preparatory to the coming of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The wicked as well as the righteous will feel the power of these keys.
The wicked as well as the righteous must be sealed to that end for
which they have lived. The wicked, who have disobeyed the law of God,
must be sealed over unto darkness, until they have been punished and
beaten with many stripes, until the last resurrection, until the last
trump shall sound. But the righteous, in the flesh and behind the
veil, will come forth in the first resurrection, but prior to that
great event they will cooperate in their labors for the consummation
of the purposes of the Almighty so far as necessary to prepare the way
for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to reign here,
personally, on the earth for the space of one thousand years. Amen.